Ever since Shawn Spears nailed Cody Rhodes square on the head with a chair shot at AEW’s Fyter Fest in late June, wrestlers and wrestling fans alike have given their two cents regarding chair shots in professional wrestling. Some have said it’s a calculated risk, while others think unprotected chair shots to the head have no place in the industry given what’s now known about concussions and CTE.
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Jim Ross, who now works as AEW’s play-by-play commentator, gave his thoughts on the matter when he appeared on Tuesday’s episode of The Steve Austin Show with “Stone Cold” Steve Austin.
“It’s like a lot of things in wrestling, it’s overdone,” Ross said. “A little goes a long way and some of that stuff that we see, and the chair is a perfect example, it’s a shortcut that people use as a crutch and it’s overused. I’m not a big advocate of getting hit in the head with a steel chair in any way. I called it [at Fyter Fest], I called it like I saw it. Cody turned his head, he got hit on the side of the head, at least it didn’t bust his face open. With that chair malfunction, there’s not telling what he’d look like with that, man. I’m not a big fan of it, but it’s like calling a football play. I might want to run the ball right now and you want to throw it, but both of them may get us a touchdown. Hell, I don’t know. But it’s overdone.”
Ross told “The Texas Rattlesnake” that if it were up to him, he’d not only ban chair shots to the head but move away from using chairs all together.
“I’ll just come out and say what I would do — I wouldn’t do any more chair shots to the head. We’re done with that business. And if I can’t have a team around me that are creative enough to get me the results of what I want in this angle or this storyline without having to scramble somebody’s brains for real, then I need to find some more hands because we’ve got the wrong staff here. Because you sons of b—es, your last original idea died of loneliness, come on.
“Then there’s another thing about the chair shots, watch the chair shots today when they’re used, it’s almost like the guy’s get on all fours in ‘doggystyle’ position so that they can be in position to be hit in the back, because that’s the only place that they really want to take a chair shot and nobody loses by getting hit in the back with a chair. So you’re getting these guys, these large men and some women, they’re getting into ‘doggystyle’ position, here they are getting set, waiting and waiting, expose, expose, and then they get hit with the chair and nobody ever loses because of that, or wins more specifically. So I’d say ixnay the chairs, because they look like s—, the spots are [worn] out, and there’s no reason to take a chance in damaging somebody’s brain over a goddamn high spot. It just doesn’t make any sense. Or the finish at WrestleMania, it doesn’t make sense to me. So to hell with the chairs, figure out something else. And if you can’t, we need to get more creative people involved in solving this problem.
Ross will be at the commentary desk for AEW’s next event, Fight for the Fallen, this Saturday night in Jacksonville.
Photo: Thomas Tischio/AEW
